CHAPTER NINETEEN

"I can't believe you're making me go to this." Nyx says as she looks at Elena. "I can't believe I'm letting you drag me to this."

"It'll be fun." Her sister argues.

"Oh, you mean like last year?"

"Okay, that was bad... But you need to do something besides sit in the hospital all day, and wait for Dean to call." Elena says, and she sighs.

"Yeah, you might have a small point. A small point." She concedes, and they start getting ready for the decade dance.

They get to the high school a little while later, and Matt finds them fairly quickly. "Hey, Nyx, you wanna dance?" He asks, and she looks at him.

"You wanna dance?" She questions.

"Wouldn't be the first time we had some fun on the dance floor in here. Remember Freshman year, before you were pulled out and homeschooled?" He asks, and she chuckles.

"Yeah, that was​ fun." She nods. "Alright." Her phone rings then, and she sighs. "Just give me one second." She says, and he nods. "Hey, how's it going?" She quickly asks Dean.

"We saved a guy from being killed by hellhounds​." He tells her. "Where the hell are you?" He asks, having heard the music.

"Elena dragged me to a dance at the high school. She said that I needed a night out of the hospital." She tells him.

"Alright, good. Try to have some fun." He says. "We'll be headed back to you soon. I miss you."

"I miss you too." She hangs up soon after.

A slow song starts then, and Nyx looks back at Matt, amused. "You still wanna dance?"

"Absolutely." He holds his hand out to her, and she takes it. He then leads her to the dance floor.

Nyx sees Elena and Stefan dancing, and a small smile tugs at her lips. "I never thought that I could like a vampire...or trust one with my sister's safety, for that matter." She says, and he looks over at them too.

"You two definitely look like you could fit in in the twenties." He says, and she chuckles.

"You think so?" She asks as she looks back at him, and he nods.

"Yeah, I do." He says, and his eyes suddenly turn black. "And I have a unique perspective on the matter."

Nycole jumps, pulling away from him. "Who are you?" She demands, and the demon laughs as his eyes return to normal.

"Take a guess." He says. "It's not the first time we've met."

"Meg."

"Oh, you're quick on the draw." He says. "Good for you."

"We have a problem." Stefan says as he walks over to them.

"Yeah, well, I can only handle one at a time." Nyx tells him, not taking her eyes off of the demon who's possessing Matt.

"Meaning?"

"Remember that demon that kidnapped Tyler?" She asks, and he nods. "I guess she crawled her ass out of hell, and here she is."

"In Matt?" He questions, and she nods.

"I told you that I'd come back for your family and friends, and I keep my promises. But I'll tell you what, why don't we see who's left after your other problem is solved?" Meg/Matt says.

"Esther has Elena." Stefan quickly tells Nycole, and they all go to a classroom to meet the others.

Someone then grabs Nyx's head from behind and slams it into the doorframe. "Pay back's a bitch. Bitch." Matt says, and she grabs him and pins him against the wall.

"How's Daddy? I hope he's good." Nyx says, and he immediately looks even angrier. "Because one day, one way or another, we will find him and we will kill him, just like we killed your precious brother." She says, and he grabs her by her throat and throws her across the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Jeremy questions as he runs over to his sister.

"What's stopping me from killing Matt and then finding myself a new meat suit to watch his body slowly waste away in?" Meg asks, and Nyx looks at him.

"Do it, and I will exorcise your ass back to hell a thousand times over." Nyx says as she gets to her feet.

"I'd like to see you try."

She takes a step toward him, but Stefan's suddenly standing in front of her. "We don't have time for this now, and you can't do anything while she's in Matt's body without hurting him too." He reminds her.

"What the hell are you three going on about?" Damon questions, his gaze flickering between Nyx and his brother.

"This is the daughter of the demon that killed John." Nyx tells them. "She's possessing Matt."

"Speaking of John..." Matt says, and her jaw clenches as she glares at him. "I saw him in hell."

The brunette looks at Bonnie. "Do whatever you were doing before we​ got here." Nyx quickly tells her, and she looks at her before starting a spell.

"She does this all the time, right?" A guy — Bonnie's date — asks.

"What's taking so long?" Klaus asks. "All boundary spells have a loophole."

"I saw people leaving the dance." Jeremy says. "I'll go and stop Esther myself. We just gotta find out where she is."

"It's suicide, Jeremy." Stefan says.

Klaus suddenly runs over and grabs Bonnie's date by his throat. "Suicide would be disappointing me." He argues. "Now, work your magic, witch, or I'll start killing people you fancy."

"Let him go." Bonnie demands.

"Not until you get us out of here."

"Don't be stupid, Klaus. Bonnie doesn't give a damn about us. The only reason she's helping right now is to save Caroline and Tyler. If you start killing people she cares about, she'll tell us all to go to hell." Stefan tells him.

"Meg's been there, haven't you? How was it, Meg? Do share." Nyx says as she looks at Matt. "You work on that tan during your trip to the pit?"

"You little—" Meg starts.

Damon grabs Matt by the throat, and he looks up at him. "I wouldn't." The vampire says.

Klaus lets go of Bonnie's date, and he holds his neck where Klaus was choking him. Bonnie then goes to Ric's classroom, and Nyx goes with her. She's going to do a locator spell to find Elena.

"Do I have to do it with those three lurking over me?" Bonnie questions, and Nyx turns to find Damon, Klaus, and Matt standing in the doorway.

"You're still mad at me over what happened to Abby." Damon starts. "Let me apologize — I'm sorry Elijah forced us to turn your mother into a vampire to save Nycole and Elena's lives. Didn't exactly have a choice."

"There's always a choice." She says as she looks at him. "And whenever​ you make one, someone else suffers."

"Let's cut the dramatics and begin, shall we?" Klaus says.

Bonnie turns to Nyx, and she gives​ the witch her hand. She then uses a knife to slice her palm, and Nyx lets her blood fall onto the map she has laid out on Ric's desk. She starts the spell.

"Esther's fighting me." Bonnie tells them.

"Esther couldn't possibly have this much power." Klaus says. "No, she's channeling something."

"A hotspot."

"Get the human ready. I know where she is." Klaus tells them.

They all start to walk out of the room then. "Hey, vampire jackasses. Don't look at me, but if you can hear me, move your right hands." Nycole whispers, and Damon and Klaus both do as she said. "I need your help. And yes, Klaus, I am asking for your help. When I ask you to, I need you to hold Matt down. Bonnie has a spell to expel a demon from its host's body. Will you two help me, please?" Damon nods once, and then Klaus does as well. "Thank you."

They all go back to the first classroom they were in, and Nyx opens the water bottle she took from Ric's class. Bonnie continues her spell and then looks over at Nycole for a second as she flips the pages in her grimoire.

"It's done." She tells the others as Nyx sets the bottle cap down. "Esther's not fighting me anymore. The boundary spell is broken."

"Well, then, I guess it's my turn." Matt says, and Nycole looks at him.

"I guess it is." Nyx throws the contents of the bottle on him, and Matt screams out in pain.

Klaus and Damon grab him and force him to his knees. Meg tries to fight them, but Nyx pours more holy water on him as Bonnie starts the spell. Matt screams and then black smoke comes out of his mouth and goes out the window. Damon and Klaus both release Matt, and he looks up at Nyx as he pushes himself off of the floor.

"Nycole, I'm so sorry." He says as he looks at the blood on her forehead; he must've been awake for that part. "I could see what was happening, but I couldn't control my own body... What the hell was that?"

"A demon." She tells him. "And she'll be back for me eventually."

—

Klaus took Esther's​ body before the others even made it to the graveyard. She turned Ric into a vampire so that he could kill the originals, but then she was killed instead.

"What's going on?" Jeremy's asking Elena and Ric as Nyx walks into the crypt that they're all in.

"Listen, Jeremy, Nycole..." Ric says as she walks up beside her brother. "I'm not gonna complete the transition. My dark side was dangerous enough as a human. I can't be a vampire."

"So, what, we're just gonna lock you in here and let you die?" Jeremy questions. "No. No, we can't."

"It's not our choice, Jeremy." Nyx tells him.

"Listen, Jeremy, it's the right thing to do, okay?" Ric says. "After everything that's happened, after— After all that I've done... Maybe I had it coming."

Jeremy starts to leave, but Elena stops her brother and then turns to Ric. "Alaric, this isn't your fault." She tells him.

"Please, you guys, let's not make this any harder than it already is. You three should go." He tells them. "Damon's here. He'll make sure it'll all go down the right way."

Jeremy starts to leave again, and Ric calls him back. "Don't. Just don't give me some crap speech about how I need to be the man of the house." He says as he looks back at the other boy.

"Okay." Ric nods. "I won't." He walks over and hugs him.

"This is all my fault." Elena says as Ric turns back to the twins after Jeremy walks out of the crypt. "You moved out. You didn't want any part of this, and I— I forced you to stay and take care of us."

"You're not the one who gave him the ring that drove him crazy." Nyx says as she wipes tears from her face.

"Don't do that." Ric looks between the two of them. "Taking care of you girls and Jeremy has been... It's been the closest I've ever come to the life I always wanted." He tells them, and Elena hugs him.

"Thank you." Nyx says, and he looks at her. "I never would've survived losing Jenna and John, and all of this police stuff with Dean if it weren't for you. I owe you everything." She says with tears in her eyes.

"You don't owe me anything." He shakes his head. "Just take care of the twins." He says, and she nods before hugging him.

"You should go." He says as he pulls back and looks at the girls, and the three of them walk out of the crypt together.

They see all of their friends there. Nyx walks over to Jeremy as Elena makes her way to where Stefan's waiting, and they all look over at Ric. He looks at each of them with tears in his eyes, and then he turns around and heads back into the crypt.

Matt takes Jeremy over to the grill for a drink, and Elena goes with Stefan to clear Ric's hunting weapons out of his classroom at the school. Bonnie's​ date takes her home, and Damon stays in the crypt with Ric to wait for him to die. So, Caroline and Tyler take Nycole back to the hospital, and she goes to the NICU to see the twins.

Nyx looks down at them, and they look so tiny and so helpless. She lays her hand on their bed and closes her eyes.

"Please, God... I'm standing here, hopeless and begging you — help my babies live. I've lost every parent that I've ever had, I can't lose my kids too. I won't survive it, not after everything that's happened to us. I need you to save Alex and Everly." She prays.

"Nycole?" Meredith walks over to her, and the teenager turns around.

Nyx wipes the tears from her eyes as she looks at the woman who's been helping her ever since she found out about the pregnancy. Meredith walks over to the teenager as she starts crying even harder, and she pulls Nyx into her arms. The younger girl hugs her, and they try to comfort each other, both feeling this most recent loss.